FBI urges cyber-crimes unit

Tiffany Williams

Published 7:00 pm, Monday, October 8, 2007

Commissioners approved the addition of one full-time position and $72,750 for the FBI's Crimes Against Children Task Force. The task force consists of local law enforcement officers who investigate and apprehend child sexual predators who go online to find their prey, MCSO Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel said.

"We don't have one person specifically assigned to such a function," McDaniel said. "This task force will be trained, funded and equipped to deal with nothing but crimes against children."

McDaniel said the unit will work like the Internet stings of the "To Catch a Predator" segments on Dateline NBC. Pretending to be minors, the law enforcement officers will try to set up meetings with adults for sex. Those who show up will be arrested.

The FBI will establish an office for the officers, provide equipment and oversee training of the officers who work in the Crimes Against Children unit.

"The public hears so often the FBI's No. 1 priority is to avoid a terrorist attack," said Patricia Villafranca, a special agent with the FBI's Houston division. "We don't want the public to get the impression we are not continuing to work extremely aggressively to deter crimes that affect the children in our communities."

County Judge Alan B. Sadler said the FBI approached Montgomery County officials about developing the task force.

"There are other jurisdictions that are contributing to this effort," including the city of Conroe and District Attorney Mike McDougal, who are also investing resources to catch and prosecute those who solicit sex from minors online, Sadler said.

"It is a crime that is ever increasing in Montgomery County."

With the prevalence of the Internet, some state officials worry predators have more opportunities to seek children for sex.

Last week, Raul Roy Flores Jr., 32, a Conroe resident, was one of 14 convicted sex offenders arrested for creating MySpace.com accounts, a violation of their parole obligations.

Since 2003, the Texas Attorney General's Office, which organized the crackdown, has arrested 95 men who arranged a sexual rendezvous with someone they thought was a child. Seventy-five of those arrests have resulted in convictions. The other 20 are going through the criminal justice system.

"That means they not only contacted the minor, but they took the next step to set up a meeting and showed up," said Jerry Strickland, communication director for Attorney General Greg Abbott.

It is not the first local effort to crack down on sexual crimes with children. In 2006, the Attorney General's Office paired up with the Shenandoah Police Department to catch four men who drove, some more than a hundred miles, to Shenandoah to have sex with someone they thought was a 13-year-old girl.

Nationally, however, youths are receiving fewer unwanted lewd solicitations when they log on. One in seven adolescents and teenagers said they received sexual propositions in 2005, compared with one in five in 1999 and 2000, according to a 2006 study by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Commissioners said they look forward to the opportunity to bolster the county's defense against the crimes.

"Anything we can do to offer more protection to the children of our county is a must," Precinct 2 Commissioner Craig Doyal said. He said he has a "vested interest" in the creed of the Crimes Against Children unit as a father of three and a grandfather.